ON HEARING the name of the great 20th-century composer Prokofiev, which musical theme does it summon? The angular strings of the opening to his ballet Romeo and Juliet - a perennial favourite of ballet companies and orchestras alike, as well as Sunderland FC fans and owners of The Smiths’ Rank album? Or his colourful Peter and the Wolf, source of many a child’s first acquaintance with the bassoon? Maybe you think of the world-famous Lieutenant Kijé Suite or his opera The Love for Three Oranges.

Prokofiev Ballets from the Halle By Robert Beale for Manchester online

IT'S Ballet Night in the Halle's Opus One series, with a selection from Prokofiev's Cinderella suites as a kind of tail-end to the Manchester Prokofiev festival - and Stravinsky's Petrushka for no better reason than, well, it's Shrovetide.

In between comes Ravel's Sheherezade - yes, the one with no "c'' in it - in which Jac van Steen was joined by Lynne Dawson as soprano soloist.

It's always a treat to hear her sing in the Bridgewater Hall (who sang at Princess Diana's funeral), and the shimmering, spicy score which Ravel produced for his three songs set off her pure and silky tone to perfection.

Van Steen was taking great care to extract the maximum clarity and impact from each score he tackled, and Cinderella emerged as the excellent craftsman's score that it is. I don't believe it ever gets to the level of Romeo And Juliet, despite trying so hard to repeat its predecessor's formula, but it has its moments (thank goodness we weren't given the whole ballet).

IN THE WORLD OF BALLET there are few things more precious than an original score. There are just so few of them about. The staples of the international repertoire are represented by only about a dozen composers, and some of the most performed ballets in the world — Manon and Onegin, for example — have scores that were cobbled together more than 50 years after their composers’ deaths. So when a lost ballet by Prokofiev — one of the greatest of all composers for dance — is rediscovered, it’s cause for rejoicing.

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